Axel's
Treehouse was an idealized version of that childhood daydream, with
the intimate atmosphere of a clubhouse. Anyone with a television set
could join the gang.

"It
is entirely imaginative," Clellan declared in 1957. "We've
put Axel, a crusty old guy who likes kids, in a treehouse. It's a good
setting for kids' imagination and lends itself to the stories I tell
or the films being run."

Unlike
many kids' TV shows, Axel and His Dog
did not include a "peanut gallery" full of breathless, restless
youngsters. It was felt that seeing the show in the studio would shatter
the illusion for kids.

Watching
Axel cavort on the mysterious, glowing cathode screen at home might
seem magical; seeing the same thing in person, divorced from the alchemy
of the airwaves, might expose him as a man in a goofy costume in front
of a cheap painted backdrop. Worse, it would be impossible to prevent
a studio audience from seeing Towser's true identity. That couldn't
be allowed to happen -- despite the silliness, Axel and His Dog always
maintained a tantalizing air of mystery.

A
TWIN CITIES
HOLIDAY TRADITION:Every Christmas, Axel would deliver his own, warped version
of the classic tale, The Night Before Christmas.
Here are two examples, the first a home recording of one of Axel's shows.

Axel
does
The Night
Before Christmas(audio)This
clip courtesy of Robert Wild - he's the one who used his tape recorder
to preserve this TV transmission from December 25, 1958 - it wouldn't
exist otherwise.

Back
at WTCN-TV, Lynn Dwyer joined "Lunch
with Casey" as Roundhouse Rodney after Chris Wedes in the
early-sixties. The short but sturdy Lynn had previously been a skater
with the Ice Capades. A gifted performer and talented mimic, Roundhouse's
manic personality contrasted perfectly with Casey's pleasant quiescence.

On
the show, Roundhouse might appear as Tarzan spouting one-liners, a life-size
windup female doll, or do his dead-on Jimmy Durante impression.

Every
year at Halloween, an evil witch would shrink Roundhouse and trap him
in a pumpkin -- probably so Lynn could take a vacation. Just in time
for Halloween, Casey would carve the pumpkin, rescue Roundhouse, and
restore him to normal size.

By
the early 1970s, the heyday of local children's programming was coming
to an end. After almost nineteen years on the air, Channel 11's "Lunch
with Casey" was cancelled by Metromedia, Inc., the conglomerate
which then owned WTCN.

NEW - DON'T MISS THIS: If
you'd like to have Axel's version of "The Night Before Christmas"
but don't want to pay big bucks for the original collector's
item, I offer two different CDs which both contain the 1964 recording
plus various other stuff. The CDs come with color reproductions of the
original packaging (or rare photos) and cost $10 each (plus $4 shipping
per
order). Here are details about the CDs:

AXEL ARTYFACTS
This collection includes:
1. Axel & His Dog theme song (#1) (fragment)
2. Axel theme song (#2)
3. Axel's version of "The Night Before Christmas" (from TV,
1958)
From a reel-to-reel home tape recording (Note: sound quality is fair
but
listenable)
4. Axel's version of "The Night Before Christmas" (with Carmen,
1964)
From the WCCO-TV Christmas record produced by Allan Lotsberg
5. The Axel TV Show (fragment, 25? December 1964)
6. The Axel TV Show (28 December 1964)
7. The Axel TV Show (31 December 1964)
8. The Axel TV Show (6? January 1965)
9. The Axel TV Show (1 March 1965)
Tracks 5-9 from reel-to-reel home tape recordings (Note: sound quality
is
fair but listenable)
Special Bonus!
10. Kingscrost Lecture (December 1941)
The earliest known recording of Clellan Card as Axel, plus the earliest
known Birdie!
From a transcription disc recorded for a Northrup King sales presentation